Celebrity: June 2008 Archives

Past GLAAD honoree Alec Mapa on the red carpet at the 19th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in NYC. The Ugly Betty star is often confused with another Asian Pacific Islander actor---and he'll be the first to tell you they are two different people.

Marriage begins Tuesday in California! 

Join Entourage's Rex Lee on the red carpet at the 19h Annual GLAAD Media Awards in San Francisco.

On the red carpet at the 19th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in NYC with Eduardo Xol from ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

A rep for Indiana Jones star Shia LaBeouf says he's "embarrassed" by an Internet video making the rounds this week which shows the former Disney Channel star participating in a sophomoric slapping contest, provoking his pal to hit him by using the anti-gay slur “fa--ot.” When contacted by GLAAD on Tuesday about LaBeouf's inappropriate and offensive language, the actor's rep at PMK/HBH said "there is no excuse for the use of that word." 

“The video tape that is currently being circulated is several years old and captures Shia playing a game amongst friends in which he uses a derogatory word towards a friend. He regrets having used the word in any capacity and is very embarrassed that this footage is being seen by anyone.”

On the red carpet at the 19th Annual GLAAD Media Awards, Jay Manuel chats with honoree Rufus Wainwright and his partner Jorn Weisbrodt. Rufus received the GLAAD Stephen F. Kolzak Award.

On the red carpet at the 19th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in NYC with comedienne Kate Clinton, winner of the GLAAD Pioneer Award in 2007.

Jay Manuel is rocking the red carpet at the 19th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles with Emmy-winner Leslie Jordan, the star of the new Logo series Sordid Lives.

ABC News has turned speculation about Lindsay Lohan coming out as bi into an interesting take: “Bisexual in Hollywood: OK for Girls, Not Guys,” which examines the level of comfort in openness between male and female bisexuals.

Reporter Sheila Marikar observes, “Female stars, including Angelina Jolie and Drew Barrymore, have revealed past relationships with women and haven't seen their careers hurt in the least because of it. But among male actors, owning up to experimentation is all but verboten. Why the double standard?”

Marikar notes how bisexual love scenes between Denise Richards and Neve Campbell in Wild Things, and Scarlett Johansson and Penelope Cruz in Woody Allen’s upcoming Vicky Cristina Barcelona are found to be “titillating” by industry and audience alike. The same blanket statement, she says, cannot be made about the love scenes in Brokeback Mountain.

While the reporter cites actors whose careers have not been adversely affected since coming out (T.R. Knight, Neil Patrick Harris, David Hyde Pierce) she quotes E! online gossip columnist Ted Casablanca’s claims that A-list male actors "absolutely" engage in sexual activity with both men and women equally. "The public just doesn't know about it," he says, "It's still Hollywood's biggest, dirtiest secret."

"In Lohan's case," Marikar writes, "revealing a relationship with a woman probably wouldn't affect her career one way or another. She's made so many headlines over the past year and a half that coming out as bisexual would just be another drop in the bucket."

It may not be the Clooney-Pitt nuptials, but after 21 years together it will be just as monumental for George Takei and Brad Altman.

Takei, best known for playing Sulu on Star Trek and his recurring role on NBC's Heroes, has been a longtime advocate in the fight for marriage for gay couples. The day the California Supreme Court overturned the ban on marriage, Altman got down on one knee to propose while Takei was eating a sandwich in their kitchen, the couple told AP Radio this week.

They bought each other turquoise and silver wedding rings and plan to walk down the aisle in white tuxedoes on Sept. 14 in the Democracy Forum at the Japanese National Museum in Los Angeles.

Members of Takei's Trek family will be in attendance. Walter Koenig, who played Chekov, will be the best man and Nichelle Nichols, who played Uhura, will be the matron of honor. Castmate Leonard Nimoy will be among the 200 guests.

The couple plan to honeymoon for a month in South America.

When the NY Post printed details of the couple's plans on Thursday, they also ran an offensive cartoon that raised the ire Takei's friend Howard Stern. "It's kinda anti-gay," Stern pointed out on Sirius Satellite Radio's The Howard Stern Show. “This is totally anti-gay, there is no mistake,” added Stern's sidekick Fred Norris.

GLAAD has issued a call to action against the NY Post.

Thanks, Jay.

I'm not sure I ever thought I'd have the chance to say those two words together given the often fractious relationship we've found ourselves in. From your wink-wink Brokeback innuendos to Ryan Phillippe being asked to give his "gayest look," we're often on the opposite side of what you consider comedy.

But last night you turned up in West Hollywood to throw your considerable voice behind the California Supreme Court's marriage decision. And, like the governor of this state, you have asked people to "Vow to Vote No" on an upcoming anti-gay ballot amendment that would change the state's Constitution and be used to treat people unfairly.

As you stood alongside Judy Shepard and T.R. Knight, you spoke about your gay friends and co-workers, and how you're supportive of their relationships and desire to marry.

Regardless of your own politics, you recognize that ultimately this is about fundamental freedoms and equal legal protections. You also see opportunities ahead, as you told reporter Greg Hernandez:

"What's so funny to me is how people miss out on [realizing] the economic benefits just in terms of catering and flowers and planning. The services that come with it. . . The businesses that cater to [the LGBT community] do very well. So it just seems like common sense. Gas is four bucks a gallon. For me to worry about what Larry and Bob are doing seems sort of ridiculous."

And you bring to the discussion a reality check:

"I come from Massachusetts and they have [marriage] there and the sky didn't fall in, everyone seems to be fine. It's one of those things where it's a matter of time. You sort of ease into it and you see what happens."

So, thank you, Jay, for lending your voice and showing your support. When Ellen marries Portia and George Takei marries Brad, you'll have an opportunity to have them on your couch to show the world that gay couples should have the same legal protections and responsibilities as everyone else. Or you could take a different path and make their ceremonies the subject of a monologue joke. I'm hoping for the former, but you might tell me that there's room for both. Borrowing a line from you, we'll "see what happens."

As the World Turns' Jake Silbermann, Tala Ashe and Van Hansis at the 19th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in New York.

Today we kick off a Pride Month worth of original backstage footage from the 19th Annual GLAAD Media Awards. Check back daily and be sure to watch Friday, June 27 at 7pm ET/PT on Bravo.

History was made by Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte last weekend. Sex and the City racked up $55.7 million, making it the highest opening ever for a romantic comedy. This was also enough bucks to dethrone Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull from its top box office spot. Not bad for a movie that is gay inclusive and, some would say, told with a gay sensibility.

No surprise there as the hit is written and directed by Michael Patrick King. The talented hyphenate (seen here with Sex co-star Cynthia Nixon) attributes his success with being true to himself, but there was a time when he would "nod and let [people] believe what they want to believe. As I did at parties before I came out of the closet," he wrote in an essay that appeared in Los Angeles Times Magazine.

After being fired from a series of TV shows in earlier years for speaking his mind and holding true to his ideals, he's now box office gold for that very same reason. "Here I am today, another rung up the ladder, where I allow myself to be myself. And it seems to be working for me and for show business---most days. So be...yourself, because they will fire you anyway," he wrote. "It's one of the most profound things I've learned in my 38 years on the planet."

"Oh---I just remembered another showbiz rule: Lie about your age."